Home
by Oceans Where My Feet May Fail
Summary: Paul and Sally and simply waiting for Percy to come home. When Percy and his friends bring home a special surprise from the Fates their days will finally start to bring laughter and joy as they go down memory lane listening to old adventures, old troubles, and old jokes. Soon we'll learn a special gift Percy gave to Annabeth, and how this week of reading goes. Characters read story
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey everyone! I just wanted to say that I'm going to be starting a different 'characters read' story. I'll still continue with my other one every now and then but… yeah. I'm more into this new one I came up with. **** So yeah enjoy this one.**

Third Person

Chapter 1

Paul was having a splendid day by himself. Granted he missed Sally, his wife, very much. He wondered when his stepson would be back. He had heard Percy was back safe at Camp Half-Blood. It was a relief knowing that Percy was safe once again. Percy was always out saving the world, and this time they didn't know if he'd be back.

So anyway, Paul was watching the Saturday game on television when he heard the doorbell ring. Of course Paul thought it would be a neighbor or something so he definitely wasn't expecting what he got.

"Mr. Blowfish! How great it is," Two boys walk straight in. The shorter one gave Paul a hug.

"Um, who are you exactly?" Paul asked. He didn't have a clue who these boys were. Something quite scared him that they knew where he lived. The boys, of course, ignored Paul for they weren't quite sure who he was either. Something the dawned on Paul that these boys had called him "Mr. Blowfish," something only Percy did to annoy him. The boys had been talking in a strange language that Paul now assumed was Greek.

"So, what are your names?" Paul asked, attempting to make small talk.

It didn't work.

"Um, where are you from?" again his attempt failed. The boys kept talking.

Paul decided he'd try something else. "Are you here for Percy?"

They looked at him, at each other, then back at him, "Percy?" They said in unison, "Do you know when he'll be here?" the taller one asked.

"He's always late," said the shorter one.

"Well, no I didn't know he'd be home any time soon," Paul said with utter honesty, the boys looked at him skeptically. Though they seemed to decide he was telling the truth.

They smiled. "I'm Travis," the taller one said sticking out his hand. Paul took it.

"I'm Connor," the other one gave Paul his hand as well.

The doorbell sounded again. Paul went to the door and opened it. Again thinking it must be a neighbor or someone, and again he was wrong.

"Mr. Blowfish!" several voices rang out. Paul's mouth hung open as they all— seven; he counted— gave him hugs. These demigods seemed to take more notice of Paul because they started off by telling him their names.

"I'm Clarisse."

"I'm Chris."

"I'm Katie."

"I'm Thalia."

"I'm Will, sir."

"I'm Reyna, pleased to meet you."

"I'm Octavian."

"It's very nice to meet all of you," Then without another word toward Paul they all went back to each other and started a conversation in Greek. Paul didn't even try to talk to them this time for he knew as long as they were talking to each other he wouldn't get to speak. He had picked up from the chat with Connor and Travis that Percy would be coming home to see all of them. Paul was very excited to see Percy that he hoped (doubtfully) that Percy would talk to him even with all his friends here. Paul was beginning to realize that all the demigods looked, well, horrible. Some had slings on arms, and several were patched with Band-Aids and ACE bandages. When the doorbell rang again, Paul was tired. He had set out assortments of snack food for the guests, and again had attempted in vain to make small talk.

Paul walked briskly to the door and opened it to smiling teenagers who were obviously demigods.

"Mr. Blowfish, Percy's said a lot about you," one said.

"He speaks so well of you and his mother," another said.

They all walked in and gave Paul a hug. Paul counted another seven. Thank goodness he recognized two of them. Rachel and Nico were with them. Nico was carrying a big brown box with him.

"Well, introduce yourselves," Rachel said the five Paul didn't know.

"I'm Piper."

"I'm Jason Grace."

"Leo, the supreme commander of the Argo 2, at your service," Paul caught an eye roll or two from that one.

"I'm Hazel," By this time Paul had noticed the others who had arrived before them had all gone silent.

"I'm Frank, it's a pleasure."

Six of them, not including Rachel, looked worse than the others. None of them had slings or Band-Aids, but you could see they were struggling to keep their happy faces on. They all had heavy bags under their eyes. Paul hoped Percy wouldn't look so bad. He also hoped Percy would show up soon. For the first time Paul saw the demigods that showed up first show massive respect, in their faces, in their body language, and most of all their silence, which was almost painful. They all quietly began to talk and laugh though this time in English, Paul wondered why English now when it had been so easy to speak in Greek before. This went on for another good five minutes (it was now nearing dinnertime) before the doorbell rang again, Paul hoped that this would be the last time. Everyone had gone extremely silent. Paul bet you could hear less than a pin drop.

He opened the door. There stood Percy, his wonderful stepson, and Percy's wonderful girlfriend, Annabeth. Percy gave Paul the biggest hug he had ever gotten before today. They looked worse than any of the others. Annabeth was using crutches and she had a cast on her leg up over her knee. Percy looked drained with big black bags under his eyes and healing scars everywhere.

Everyone stood in a deep silence. All of them stood straight and proud looking at Percy and Annabeth.

Percy smiled at everyone. "Today is a great day. We have lost many warriors, siblings, and most of all friends. We will remember them all dearly… Now I thought it best to relax here at my house because well, I haven't seen my house for what seems like ages. As you all know, and you probably heard the worst of it, I have missed my dad greatly and I assume my mother will be here shortly." Everyone was chuckling and had great smiles on their worn-out faces.

Percy's speech was given like a true leader. Percy had called Paul his dad.

Paul could not be more proud.

**First Person**

**Paul**

I never seen Percy in this much authority. Percy had just recently turned nineteen, and he was acting like a man who had seen every battle and faced them all. In other words, he was acting far beyond his years. The demigods had all gone from talking in English to singing several different songs in several different languages. Some of them would sing a song fully in Greek, then all of them would sing some song I've never heard in English, Then last, five of them (Jason, Frank, Hazel, Reyna and Octavian) would sing something in what I was pretty sure must have been Latin.

One song the Greek boys all sang, and all the Greek girls cooed and squealed. I assumed the boys were singing some sort of love song. My favorite songs were the ones Percy, Annabeth, or Thalia led. They were all wonderful singers.

"Paul?" I jumped I guess I had zoned out.

"Yes, Annabeth?"

"When's Sally getting home?"

"Percy!" We all jumped at the squeal.

"Mom!" Percy jumped off the couch and almost tackled his mother to the ground.

"Oh, my baby boy, how are you?" Sally asked. All the demigods chuckled at Sally's "baby boy" comment.

"Everyone's here now, should we pull out the books?" Reyna asked.

"Yeah, sure, Nico do you have them?" Percy said.

"Yep!" Nico pulled the big brown box he had had earlier out, and pulled out a book. I had forgotten about it.

"To explain, Sally, Paul, the Fates gave us an award—quote-on-quote—in the form of books," Rachel said with a glint in her eye.

After a silence Nico spoke up, "No one knows what the books are except for me and Rachel…"

"Well now, why don't tell us about them?" Annabeth said putting her head on Percy's chest. Her voice ached with exhaustion. Percy closed his eyes and laid his head back on the couch.

"Annabeth and Percy, stay awake," one of the demigods, Chris I think, shouted. Both of them snapped their eyes open and began to laugh with the rest of the group. What good sports they were about everything. I guess they were always searching for a reason to laugh.

"Well, then. The first book is called 'Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief," Nico said. Annabeth and Percy started laughing hysterically and looked at each other with knowing eyes.

"Isn't that you're first adventure together?" Clarisse asked.

"Yeah, I think I remember that," Travis said.

Some of the other demigods nodded.

"You'll see," Percy said.

I loved watching the demigods interact with each other. They teased each other yet they spoke in such a way that told untold stories and respect.

"What do you think, Paul, should we start reading?" Annabeth prompted.

I was about to reply when Sally came out and announced, "Dinner first, then reading? I cooked a fine feast fit for growing demigods," she seemed very proud when just about every half-blood's stomach rumbled. I figured this would be the finest dinner I'd ever had.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Here's chapter twosie 3**_

Chapter 2

The group of worn down teens had regained their positions in the living area. They were all heavily excited about the first chapter and so on, but first thing was first.

"Dinner was amazing, Sally," Chris said while everyone agreed.

"Yeah, I was hoping for some leftovers," she replied sheepishly.

The group of teens laughed like this remark was the funniest thing they'd heard in their shortly too experienced lived lives. "You expected leftovers?" Nico coughed out.

"Mom, some of us haven't eaten in more than a week!"

"I never said I expected leftovers," Sally replied, "Let's just read the silly book."

"Thalia, will you do the honors of exploiting Percy's thoughts?" Hazel asked.

Thalia laughed and took the book. "Hazel I love the way you're mind works. Let us read this unholy book!"

"Hey!" Percy jumped in, "My thoughts weren't unholy."

"Are they now?"

"Um, I'm dating Annabeth."

They all stared at him for a moment hoping he meant that Annabeth… actually there was no way to make that clean.

"Whelp, I'ma gonna read da book now."

"Thalia, don't talk like you're two," Sally scolded.

"I don't wanna read!" Percy howled.

"Too bad!"

"**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

Thalia read over Percy's complaints.

"Can you read that again please? I didn't catch it," Katie requested.

Thalia sighed and glared at Percy.

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.****  
****If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.****  
****Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.****  
****If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.****  
****But if you recognize yourself in these pages - if you feel something stirring inside - stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you.****  
****Don't say I didn't warn you.**

"You didn't warn me," Nico said with a dead serious look towards Percy.

"Yes I did."

"No you didn't."

Thalia kept reading to stop them from going on.

******My name is Percy Jackson.**

"No, it's Thalia," Travis said.

******I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.****  
****Am I a troubled kid?****  
****Yeah. You could say that.**

Everyone laughed.

******I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan - twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

"Oo, that sounds like fun! Will you take me Percy?" Annabeth said hopping in her seat.

Thalia sniffed a laugh and didn't give Percy a chance to answer.

******I know - it sounds like torture.**

"Really, Percy, really?" the rest of the group chuckled.

**Most Yancy field trips were.****  
****But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.****  
****Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**

"Oh! That little part of our past makes sense now!" Annabeth said looking over her shoulder at Percy.

"Yep," was all he replied, leaving the rest of the group to wonder.

******I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

**Boy, was I wrong.****  
****See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway. And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.**

The whole group laughed. "Percy! You never told us about all that!" Leo said.

"It never came up…" Percy's face was red.

******This trip, I was determined to be good.****  
****All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.**

"Aw, Grover was still your best friend," Rachel cooed.

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you.**

"Well, okay then," Rachel pouted.

**You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.****  
****Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.****  
****"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**

"Oo! I want to see this!" Octavian put in.

******Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter.**

Octavian and Clarisse hung their heads. "Ah man!"

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.****  
****"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.****  
****"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."**

"Ha, sucks for you!"

"Thanks, Beth."

"Anytime."

******Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

"You probably would've been expelled earlier, though," Connor stated.

"Well then he would've had more time on his quest," Travis put in.

"Ah, the things we regret," Percy said.

******Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.****  
****He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.****  
****It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.****  
****He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, **

"Wow, Percy, actually paying attention?"

"Thanks, Paul."

**but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.****  
****Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. **

"Oh, hey, I know why that's familiar!" Nico excitedly said.

"Shut up, Nico, I'm trying to listen," Jason said.

Nico huffed.

**She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.****  
****From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. **

"Ha, that's me and Nico," Hazel laughed.

"Hey, I didn't know back then," Percy huffed.

**She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.****  
****One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

Katie sighed, "Grover, Grover, Grover."

******Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.****  
****Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you shut up?"****  
****It came out louder than I meant it to.**

"Of course," Reyna put in.

******The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.****  
****"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"****  
****My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."****  
****Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"****  
****I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"****  
**

"How is that relieving?" Will commented.

**"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because ..."****  
****"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and - "****  
****"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.****  
****"Titan," I corrected myself. "And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters - "****  
****"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

"Yup," Leo said.

******" - and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."****  
****Some snickers from the group.**

"I would have laughed too," Annabeth told Percy.

"I hate this book," said Percy.

The group laughed.

******Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"****  
****"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"****  
****"Busted," Grover muttered.**

The group snickered.

******"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.****  
****At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

"He seems like a very good teacher," Paul remarked.

"Of course you would notice that, Paul," Percy laughed.

******I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."****  
****"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. **

"Oh, come on!" Will said exasperated, "That's not fair."

**"Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

"Happy note?" Sally asked.

"No idea," replied Frank.

******The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.****  
****Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."****  
****I knew that was coming.**

Will, Clarisse, and Octavian groaned. "Why!" said Clarisse.

******I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"****  
****Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go - intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.****  
****"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.****  
****"About the Titans?"****  
****"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."****  
****"Oh."****  
****"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."****  
****I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

"No, shit."

"Nicolas Di Angelo, watch your mouth!" Annabeth said.

"Yes ma'am."

******I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor**

"Roman armor?" Frank questioned.

Percy shrugged, "It was Latin class."

**and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped. But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C - in my life. No - he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

"That's awful," Piper said.

******I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.****  
****He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.****  
****The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.****  
****Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

"Why were the gods so angry?" asked Jason.

"You'll find out."

******Nobody else seemed to notice.**

"Mortals," Octavian muttered.

"Hey!" Rachel glared.

"Sorry love."

"I'm not your love!"

**Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.****  
****Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school - the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.****  
****"Detention?" Grover asked.****  
****"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean - I'm not a genius."**

The group sniffed a laugh.

******Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

Sally laughed.

******I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.****  
****I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

"Of course," Sally said.

******Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.****  
****I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends - I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists - and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

"Bitch."

"Nico!"

"Sorry my beautiful cousin."

"Gay."

"I hate your life, Thals."

******"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.****  
****I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

"Foreshadowing!"

"Frank, just so you know, I'm going to murder someone if people keep interrupting."

"Kay, Jason, lay off the soda."

******I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"****  
****Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.****  
****Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see - "****  
****" - the water - "****  
****" - like it grabbed her - "**

"Fish!"

"Thanks, Beth, appreciate it."

******I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.****  
****As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey - "****  
****"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."****  
****That wasn't the right thing to say.**

"Really, ya sure?" Hazel inquired.

******"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.****  
****"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."****  
****I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

"No one likes Death."

"He's a whore."

"NICO!"

******She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.****  
****"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.****  
****"But - "****  
****"You - will - stay - here."****  
****Grover looked at me desperately.****  
****"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."****  
****"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now."****  
****Nancy Bobofit smirked.****  
****I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare. **

"Shudder," Octavian sarcastically remarked.

"Oh, no, Octavian. You have no idea how terrifying that stare is!"

"…Oh."

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.****  
****How'd she get there so fast?**

"She's a monster isn't she?" Clarisse said.

"I'm not going to tell you," Percy sang.

******I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.****  
****I wasn't so sure.****  
****I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

"Dumb."

"Nico… I'ma kill you."

"No, you love me, Percy!"

"He's mine Nico! I called him."

"Shush, Annabeth."

"Omygodshedidnotjustdothat."

"He did."

******Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.****  
****I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.****  
****Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

"Nope!" said Reyna.

******But apparently that wasn't the plan.****  
****I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.****  
****Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

"Creepy!" Piper commented.

******Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.****  
****Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**

"Ew."

"Why, ew, Rachel?"

She shrugged.

******"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.****  
****I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."****  
****She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"****  
****The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.****  
****She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.****  
****I said, "I'll - I'll try harder, ma'am."****  
****Thunder shook the building.**

"Them gods are pissed!" The demigods and Rachel shouted. Inside joke.

******"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."****  
****I didn't know what she was talking about.****  
****All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room. Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.****  
****"Well?" she demanded.****  
****"Ma'am, I don't..."****  
****"Your time is up," she hissed.****  
****Then the weirdest thing happened. **

"The weirdest? You sure?" Thalia asked.

"Well, at the time."

**Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

"You first monster was a Fury!" several people shouted.

Percy sighed.

"Yup! I'm so proud!" Nico said in an exclamatory way.

"Gay."

"Aug, my cousins _hate_ me!"

******Then things got even stranger.**

"Stanger than Nico?"

"Hey!"

"Nope, not stranger than Nico."

******Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.****  
****"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.****  
****Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

"Oh!"

"What?"

"I figured out who—"

"Shhhh!"

******With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword - Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

Annabeth whispered something to Reyna.

"I wonder—" Reyna started.

"Guys, I understand we all have some form of ADD or ADHD, but the chapter is almost done," Thalia said, exasperated.

******Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.****  
****My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.****  
****She snarled, "Die, honey!"****  
****And she flew straight at me.****  
****Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

"Naturally."

******The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss!****  
****Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.****  
****I was alone.**

"All by myself!" Percy sang.

"You got some angelic vocals, Perce."

"I know, I know."

"Boys, let Thalia finish!"

"Yes, mom."

******There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.****  
****Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.****  
****My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

The group laughed.

******Had I imagined the whole thing?****  
****I went back outside.****  
****It had started to rain.****  
****Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

"Ha-da-who now?"

******I said, "Who?"****  
****"Our teacher. Duh!"****  
****I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.****  
****She just rolled her eyes and turned away.****  
****I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.****  
****He said, "Who?"****  
****But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.****  
****"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."****  
****Thunder boomed overhead.**

"Them gods are pissed!"

******I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.****  
****I went over to him.****  
****He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."****  
****I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.****  
****"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"****  
****He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

"Now he can lie!"

"Guys, please like, four more lines."

******"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."****  
****He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"**

"Yuh! We made it through without dying!" Nico shouted.

"Yuuuuh!" the rest of the group sounded.

"You all have a lot of inside jokes," Paul said.

"Yup. It's what keeps you alive," Will said.

"That and sharp things," Leo said.

"Well, of course, but yeah."

"Can we sleep?" Annabeth asked.

"Of course you all can sleep here. Percy is your room clean?"

"Mom, I haven't been home in… a long time, I don't know if my room is clean."

"Oh, well, I'll get the air mattress and sleeping bags. You can all sleep in the living room."

"Awesome, it'll be like a sleep over!" Piper said.

"Yeah, this'll be fun," Katie said.

"I'm tired," Annabeth said nuzzling into Percy, who kissed her head.

The crew stayed up and chatted for awhile about idle things after setting the room up with pillows and blankets. Percy and Annabeth slept on the Lazy Boy. From right to left on the couch bed Katie, Travis, Connor, and Will slept. On the air mattress Leo, Piper, Jason, and Hazel slept with Frank on the floor beside Hazel. Clarisse and Chris slept next to each other in sleeping bags. Rachel and Thalia slept on either side of Nico who wasn't happy about who he was sleeping beside. Reyna slept next to Rachel who was glad Octavian couldn't sleep next to her then. Octavian was sprawled out on the end table. In the end it looked like a bunch of teens just had a party which in a way, they did.

The war was officially over, and they had just started they're celebration.


End file.
